Gangs are fully entrenched in many suburban communities
across the nation; they began to expand from urban areas into suburban
communities during the 1970s, continued their expansion in the 1980s, and
launched into full-scale migration during the 1990s. Many notable
gangs such as the Chicago-based Gangster Disciples, Black Peace Stones, and
Latin Kings initially formed as organizations for political and social reform
during the 1960s. However, by the early 1970s, the focus of a number of these
gangs moved from reform to criminal activity for profit. At this time gang
activity was largely confined to urban areas.

Throughout the 1970s urban gangs became better organized and began to expand
their activities into surrounding communities. The movement of urban gang
members to suburban areas resulted in some territorial conflicts between rival
urban gang members moving into the area, in addition to some territorial
conflicts with existing suburban gang members. The gang members who migrated
from urban areas often formed new, neighborhood-based local gangs. Local gangs
generally controlled their territories through violence and intimidation. In
addition, they sought to increase their size by recruiting new members, who were
typically from single-parent, low-income households and who had a limited
education. Local gangs engaged in a wide range of criminal activity, including
retail-level drug distribution.

During the 1980s larger urban gangs that engaged in drug trafficking began to
expand their drug distribution networks into suburban areas traditionally
influenced by local gangs. The larger gangs controlled drug distribution in city
drug markets; they were motivated to move into adjoining communities to generate
additional income by capitalizing on burgeoning powder cocaine and crack cocaine
abuse. Large urban gangs generated millions of dollars from trafficking illicit
drugs in urban and suburban areas; this income enabled the gangs to recruit new
members and to force smaller local gangs to either disband or align with them,
thereby increasing their dominance. Also, many urban gang leaders directed
members to survey new locations throughout the country to create subsets or
chapters with the intended purpose of establishing new drug markets to generate
additional illicit profit. As various gangs attempted to expand nationally, they
often were met with initial resistance by local gangs. This resistance resulted
in an increased number of homicides and drive-by-shootings in suburban
communities.

Gangs became entrenched in communities throughout the nation, and
gang-related violence and drug trafficking became fully ingrained in suburban
areas throughout the 1990s. Because of the significant levels of violence
attendant to gang-related criminal activity, federal, state, and local law
enforcement officials devoted significant resources to fight gun crime and to
disrupt the most violent gangs. This crackdown on violent gang activity targeted
key gang leaders in an effort to dismantle highly structured gangs. In
conjunction with this crackdown, federal law enforcement officials began to
target violent gang members from Mexico and Central America, most of whom were
in the United States illegally. Moreover, a large number of gang members in
prison formed into associations along ethnic lines during this time in an
attempt to protect their operations, giving rise to large, influential prison
gangs. As these gang members were released from prison, they maintained contact
with gang leaders in prison and used their influence to control street gangs in
urban and suburban areas.

Gangs often introduce heightened levels of violent
crime and retail-level drug distribution in suburban communities to which they
migrate. Gangs are responsible for a large number of violent crimes
committed each year throughout the country. From 2002 through 2006, gangs were
implicated in approximately 900 homicides per year in the United States,
according to supplemental data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Uniform Crime Report (UCR). Law enforcement officials report that many
gang-related homicides occur in suburban locations. For example, during 2007 law
enforcement officials in Irvington, New Jersey, a suburb of Newark, reported 23
homicides--20 of which were believed to be gang-related. In 2008 six homicides
have been reported thus far in Irvington; three are believed to be gang-related.
Members of national-level gangs such as Bloods, Ņeta, Mara Salvatrucha, and
Latin Kings have been linked to a number of these homicides.

Most gang-related homicides, according to reporting law enforcement
officials, result from a gang's attempt to expand activities into another gang's
territory. For instance, the Tampa, Florida, Police Department and Hillsborough
County, Florida, Sheriff's Office are contending with an increase in
weapons-related gang violence in their jurisdictions, including drive-by
shootings. The violence is the result of locally affiliated Bloods and Crips
gangs protecting their drug distribution locations from Sureņos 13 and Latin
King members who are migrating into the area from Miami and attempting to
establish drug trafficking operations. In addition to violence perpetrated by
Bloods, Crips, Latin Kings, and Sureņos 13 gang members, officers with the Tampa
Police Department and Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office must deal with the
criminal activities of approximately 1,000 members of other gangs operating in
their areas (see Appendix E, Map 9).

Gang members typically act in concert, planning violent criminal activity to
advance their reputation, protect their territory, or expand their operations.
Also, gang members sometimes arbitrarily commit random acts of violence. For
example, members of Florencia 13 in South Los Angeles indiscriminately shot
innocent African American citizens during 2007 in an effort to intimidate rival
African American gangs. Additionally, Sureņos 13 members in Whitfield County,
Georgia, and the city of Dalton, Georgia, randomly targeted buildings and
vehicles in drive-by shootings, presumably to intimidate local communities.
Moreover, planned criminal activities perpetrated by gangs have led to the
victimization of many innocent bystanders. In 2007 a shoot-out between rival gang
members in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, resulted in an 8-year-old girl being
seriously wounded by crossfire.

Gangs dominate retail-level drug distribution and increasingly are becoming
involved in wholesale-level drug trafficking. According to the 2007 NDTS, gangs
are involved in drug distribution in every state in the country, principally in
urban and suburban areas, but also in rural communities (see
Appendix E, Map 2).
Moreover, NDTS trend data reveal a 13 percent increase between 2003 and 2007 in
the number of law enforcement agencies reporting drug distribution by street
gangs in their jurisdictions. NDTS trend data further reveal that the primary
drug distributed by gangs is marijuana, followed by powder cocaine, crack
cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, also
known as ecstasy), and diverted pharmaceuticals.

In conducting criminal operations, gang members in urban areas often travel to
suburban locations to engage in criminal activity and then return to their home
locations. Suburban communities located near interstates and major highways are
more prone to this type of gang activity. For instance, gang members from the
Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, metropolitan area5 reportedly travel by vehicle to
outlying suburban communities, including those in Dallas and Tarrant Counties,
to conduct retail drug distribution. They return to their home locations when
their drug supplies are exhausted. Additionally, gangs with a nexus to
Dallas/Fort Worth have established subsets and chapters in a number of suburban
communities that they initially targeted through such transient methods (see
Appendix E, Map 10).

End Note

5. The
Dallas/Fort Worth area is home to more than 500 gangs with between 8,000 and
10,000 gang members; Hispanic and Asian gangs are dominant. Hispanic street,
prison, and outlaw motorcycle gangs active in the area include Latin Kings,
Tango Blasters, Hermanos de Pistoleros Latinos, and East Side Homeboys. Asian
street gangs operating in the area include Tiny Rascal Gangsters and Asian Boyz.